Making and Keeping Your Office Clean and Green: Resources & Recycling

Any plan to reduce clutter and inefficiency in an office makes good business sense. Less clutter allows for a more productive workspace and reduced inefficiency helps the business. In particular, ?green? initiatives are good for the planet and emotional well-being of the employees while having a demonstratively beneficial impact on a company’s earnings.

There are two ways to approach this process. First, you and your company can make a decided effort to reduce wasteful practices and the production of garbage. Secondly, the management of the company can make intelligent decisions about major purchases that can have an effect on both the environment and on the operating costs of the company.

Resources and Recycling

When people think of going “clean and green”, they almost immediately identify recycling as a simple and effective first step and they are exactly right. The figures on waste in the United States are staggering and the solution begins by not creating garbage.

From the simple expedient of reusing paperclips to making double-sided copies, there are enormous opportunities for reducing waste and operating costs in a business. The advent of the computer age has also provided significant opportunities for the efficient use of resources.

The electronic collection, distribution and archiving of information can cut paper, toner and mailing costs by 90 per cent. It also saves an enormous amount on payroll and on the need for that most costly of items, real estate. Electronic documents take up zero space and the space normally reserved for file cabinets can be put to more profitable use.

Similarly, brochures and marketing materials do not have to be created as throw away items. Instead, consider interactive displays that convey the information in a more entertaining and engaging manner. These displays can be as simple as attractive wall signs or as complex as multimedia presentations on high-definition televisions.

One final benefit to this whole process is that the less garbage produced, the less the garbage collection bill is at the end of every month. In short, the efficient use of the physical resources of an office can lead to a significant “greening” of the space and a resultant increase in the bottom line.

Image: booleansplit

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